Business Strategy Assessment Tools

Surveys can serve an important purpose. We should use them to fill holes in our understanding of the customer experience or build better models with the customer data we have. As surveys tell you what customers explicitly choose to share, you should not be using them to measure the experience. Surveys are also inherently reactive, surface level, and increasingly ignored by customers who are overwhelmed by feedback requests. This is fact. There’s a different way. Some CX leaders understand that the most critical insights come from sources customers don’t even realize they’re providing from the “exhaust” of every day life with your brand. Real-time digital behavior, social listening, conversational analytics, and predictive modeling deliver insights that surveys alone never will. Voice and sentiment analytics, for example, go beyond simply reading customer comments. They reveal how customers genuinely feel by analyzing tone, frustration, or intent embedded within interactions. Behavioral analytics, meanwhile, uncover friction points by tracking real customer actions across websites or apps, highlighting issues users might never explicitly complain about. Predictive analytics are also becoming essential for modern CX strategies. They anticipate customer needs, allowing businesses to proactively address potential churn, rather than merely reacting after the fact. The capability can also help you maximize revenue in the experiences you are delivering (a use case not discussed often enough). The most forward-looking CX teams today are blending traditional feedback with these deeper, proactive techniques, creating a comprehensive view of their customers. If you’re just beginning to move beyond a survey-only approach, prioritizing these more advanced methods will help ensure your insights are not only deeper but actionable in real time. Surveys aren’t dead (much to my chagrin), but relying solely on them means leaving crucial insights behind. While many enterprises have moved beyond surveys, the majority are still overly reliant on them. And when you get to mid-market or small businesses? The survey slapping gets exponentially worse. Now is the time to start looking beyond the questionnaire and your Likert scales. The email survey is slowly becoming digital dust. And the capabilities to get you there are readily available. How are you evolving your customer listening strategy beyond traditional surveys? #customerexperience #cxstrategy #customerinsights #surveys

5 Strategy Frameworks Every Leader Should Master in 2025 It’s not about doing more, it’s about doing the right things, better. These 5 frameworks will give you the clarity, structure, and focus to lead with confidence in the coming year: 1️⃣ RACI Matrix (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) Purpose: Defines roles and responsibilities. When to Use It: For cross-functional projects or complex workflows. Why It Works: Ensures everyone knows their role, reducing bottlenecks and finger-pointing. Example: Used in a product launch to clarify ownership. Delivered 2 weeks ahead of schedule with fewer delays. 2️⃣ Growth-Share Matrix (BCG Matrix) Purpose: Helps prioritize investments across product lines. When to Use It: To evaluate which products to grow, maintain, or phase out. Why It Works: Balances short-term profits with long-term growth. Example: Identified a “cash cow” product and reinvested profits into a high-growth opportunity, driving 20% revenue growth. 3️⃣ Value Stream Mapping (Lean Six Sigma) Purpose: Optimizes processes by visualizing inefficiencies. When to Use It: For operational bottlenecks or resource-heavy workflows. Why It Works: Helps eliminate waste and improve efficiency. Example: Mapped out a supply chain process, reducing lead time by 30% and saving thousands in operational costs. 4️⃣ Blue Ocean Strategy Purpose: Finds untapped markets or creates new demand. When to Use It: To launch a new product or reposition your company. Why It Works: Helps avoid fierce competition by redefining the playing field. Example: Entered an underserved niche, creating a $5M market opportunity. 5️⃣ Scenario Planning Purpose: Prepares your organization for multiple future possibilities. When to Use It: In volatile markets or high-risk industries. Why It Works: Improves agility and helps navigate uncertainty. Example: Developed three potential outcomes for a market expansion, enabling quick pivots during unexpected challenges. Why These Frameworks Matter: In 2025, leaders will face more complexity, faster decision-making cycles, and increased competition. These frameworks simplify challenges, provide structure, and help align teams around what really matters. Which of these frameworks will you take into 2025? Or is there one you already swear by? 👋 Follow me, Hetali Mehta, MPH, for actionable strategy insights. ♻️ Share this post with a leader who’s ready to focus on what matters most in the year ahead.

Only 2% of leaders are confident they will achieve 80–100% of their strategic objectives. 👇 That includes: ---> Navigating Market Dynamics ---> Understanding Competitive Forces ---> Identifying Growth Opportunities ---> Adapting to External Changes ---> Excelling in Value Delivery How can we ensure we're not part of the 2%? By utilizing robust business strategy frameworks. Consider these essential models: ---> The Ansoff Matrix: Explores growth strategies through market penetration, product development, and diversification. ---> Porter’s Five Forces: Analyzes competitive forces to strategize on profit potential in an industry. ---> Growth Share Matrix: Helps allocate resources by categorizing business units as Stars, Cash Cows, Question Marks, or Dogs. ---> PEST Analysis: Examines Political, Economic, Social, and Technological factors to anticipate market trends. ---> Value Disciplines: Focuses on excelling in one of three areas - operational excellence, product leadership, or customer intimacy. These frameworks don't just guide you through planning. They empower you to turn strategy into an actionable advantage. ➟ Understand your market deeply. ➟ Anticipate challenges confidently. ➟ Drive growth strategically. ➟ Stand out from the competition. -- Think your network could benefit from these insights? Feel free to share. ♻️

A striking stat caught my eye recently: while 82% of companies use NPS surveys, only 34% find them truly valuable. This perfectly captures a massive disconnect in how B2B companies approach customer feedback. We're running programs that should work well, but don't really help us much. I think NPS, and similar VOC programs, when applied in a B2B context have two major flaws. - That 5% of your customers can speak for the other 95% - That you can build a great company getting customer feedback once a quarter Neither of these work in B2B, where 5% of a customer base is a tiny sample, where every customer relationship is complex and unique, and where speed matters a lot. What B2B businesses need are high-velocity feedback loops that move beyond periodic surveys. By capturing and analyzing every customer interaction in real-time — from support tickets to sales calls — you create a direct line to customer voice. This is exactly what we're building at BackEngine. This shift does two critical things: - Gives you insight into what 100% of your customers are actually saying - Ensures those insights instantly reach the teams who can act on them The result? Engineering teams fix issues before they impact multiple customers. Product teams validate decisions with comprehensive data. CS teams prevent problems instead of reacting to them. Executives maintain a real-time view of the business. NPS still has its place for tracking long-term sentiment. But in today's market, maintaining startup-like customer connection as you scale isn't optional — without it, you'll eventually hear what you need to know, but it will likely be too late.

How often are you reviewing your existing customer feedback and research before making strategic business decisions? In a recent in-office planning session, we wanted to assess if a specific Persona was important enough to justify building features for them. Before making any decisions, I wanted to look through what we already knew about Marvin users – so I: ➡️ Reviewed our repository to find out what we already knew about the Persona ➡️ Had AI search through sales call transcripts for mentions of the Persona ➡️ Compiled the findings and refined them with Marvin's Ask AI ➡️ Used those results to build a quick report for the team When I looked through the data, the learnings were clear enough to make a product decision without conducting new interviews. Without this process, it would have taken several weeks and many customer interviews to gather similar insights. Many companies underutilize their existing research, but it’s easier than ever to analyze and discover insights about users – even with limited resources.

The 7S Framework is one of McKinsey's premier strategy tools. And while the framework is not strictly MECE (Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive), it is holistic. It aims to balance seven key elements: Strategy, Structure, Systems, Shared Values, Style, Staff, and Skills. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 7𝐒 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧: 🎯 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘺: This is your game plan for winning. It needs to be adaptable and ready to evolve as the market changes. 🏗️ 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦: Think of this as your company's skeleton. It's how everyone is organized and how they interact. Design the structure to facilitate decisions that are more aligned with the strategy. ⚙️ 𝘚𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘴: These are the processes that keep your company running smoothly. From technology to human resources, systems are the lifeblood of your day-to-day operations. Make sure the systems support the strategy. ❤️ 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘝𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘴: At the heart of everything are your core values. They're what your company stands for and believes in. These values guide your decisions and shape your company culture. Explicitly resolve value conflicts that can confuse the organization. 🌟 𝘚𝘵𝘺𝘭𝘦: This is all about your company culture – the way things are done in your organization. It's important to have a style that supports your strategy and encourages a positive working environment. 👥 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘧𝘧: Your team is your most valuable asset. Focus not just on talent but also on having coachable people with diverse backgrounds to improve decision-making. 💡 𝘚𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴: Finally, consider the capabilities your organization needs to execute your strategy effectively. Having the right expertise, whether in-house or outsourced, is crucial. Don't develop a #strategy in isolation - integrate it with the other elements. Use the 7 elements like a roadmap for designing the conditions for success. Which element do you think is most important for success? --------- 💡 I'm Alex Nesbitt. I help leaders connect strategy to action. 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 is my masterclass on being more strategic. Secure a seat while you can: https://lnkd.in/g-6BiTMK

En route from OKR to GTM, we went overboard on abbreviating and process-izing everything we could. But frameworks and mental models tend to stand the test of time.  So as we head into fall 😢 and the final quarter of the year – planning season! 🥳 – here are 5 of strategists’ most-trusted but least-talked about mental models, to inspire your efforts and focus your thinking. 1. 𝗪𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗹𝗲𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗽     What it is: A visual tool for mapping your business landscape and analyzing your market. How it works: Plots components by visibility and maturity to reveal strategic positions. When to use: Perfect for understanding competitive environments and anticipating your strategic moves. 🚧 Watch out for: Complexity and subjectivity in mapping, which can result in misinterpretation or overconfidence in strategic moves. 2. 𝗕𝗼𝘄𝗺𝗮𝗻’𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸 What it is: A model outlining strategic positioning options. How it works: Maps strategies based on price and perceived value / differentiation. When to use: Useful for assessing competitive positioning in the market. 🚧 Watch out for: Misdiagnosis of perceived value and pricing can lead to market rejection, brand dilution, loss of competitive edge, and/or eroded profitability. 3. 𝗛𝗼𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 What it is: A strategic planning methodology for aligning goals and actions. How it works: Integrates long-term objectives with daily operations through a structured process. When to use: Helps to coordinate your org for  consistent, aligned progress on strategic efforts. 🚧 Watch out for: An overly rigid process may stifle innovation or adaptation to unexpected changes. 4. 𝗩𝗥𝗜𝗢 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 What it is: A tool for assessing your internal resources and capabilities. How it works: Evaluates resources based on Value, Rarity, Imitability, and Organization. When to use: Best for determining a defensible, sustainable competitive advantage and resource-based strategy to drive long-term success. 🚧 Watch out for: Overlooking external factors or failing to continuously reassess resources, which can lead to missed opportunities or competitive disadvantage. 5. 𝗔𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗳𝗳 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗶𝘅 What it is: A strategic tool for exploring growth options. How it works: Maps growth strategies across market/product combinations. When to use: Ideal for evaluating business expansion paths. 🚧 Watch out for: Pursuing new markets or products without adequate research can lead to costly failures and resource drain. -- We might not be able to avoid the sea of acronyms we're drowning in, but at least we can build stronger (strategic) boats to sail right through and arrive at smarter destinations. Have any of these worked well for you? Which feels most useful to leverage in 2025 planning? Let me know! #strategy #innovation #askbetterquestions  

In almost every health tech company I work with, I see the same pattern: The mission gets everyone inspired. But if you ask five teams how their work ties back to it, you’ll get five different answers. 🗓️ Product is planning quarterly bets. 💸 Sales is promising custom features and services. 📣 Marketing is chasing a new brand partnership. ⚙️ Clinical is trying to make it all work. 🔬 Research is running two quarters (or years) behind. ...And nobody’s quite sure how it all ties together. It’s not always strategy problem. It’s usually an alignment problem. And the fix isn’t another 80-slide strategy deck or an OKR spreadsheet. When I work with health tech leaders on this problem we start with creating simple, visual frameworks to connect the dots. There are a few tools I always come back to: Ravi Mehta’s Strategy Stack is a clear model for aligning mission to each team’s goals. Melissa Perri’s Strategy Canvas is great for surfacing assumptions and gaps. The (infamous) Amazon PRFAQ helps clarify priorities and concerns across teams before we start building anything. Simple strategy tools like like these are especially helpful for clinical and research functions. Instead of staying siloed or getting brought in too late, they help everyone connect their work to company priorities in a way that’s clear and energizing. Without a simple, shared framework, teams run parallel but not together. Each one is optimizing for different goals, timelines, and definitions of success. 📚 In my latest WELL workshop, I walked through how you can use simple tools to put the pieces together and get teams on the same page. 🎥 The replay is up for a limited time: https://lnkd.in/e52SDwXn ❓Health tech folks, what tools are you using to align across teams? Drop a link—I’d love to build a roundup.

🧠 🚀 💡 Ever wondered how top CEOs gather competitive intel without crossing ethical lines? I've developed an AI-powered playbook used by forward-thinking executives... 🔥 #CompetitiveIntelligence #AIforBusiness The competitive intelligence game has completely transformed. While traditional competitive analysis takes weeks and substantial resources, today's savvy C-suite leaders leverage AI to gain unprecedented insights in hours. This isn't just about working faster—it's about uncovering hidden opportunities and strategic blind spots that traditional methods miss entirely. #ExecutiveStrategy 🚀 How top CEOs are leveraging ChatGPT: 🔎 Market mapping in hours, not days - One SaaS CEO I interviewed reduced her team's weekly competitive landscape analysis from 20 hours to just 3 using AI assistance 🧠 Blind spot identification - With 84% of executive decisions affected by confirmation bias (HBR), leaders are using prompts like this to challenge assumptions: Our working assumptions about Competitor X: 1. Their advantage is [Feature] 2. Their weakness is [Weakness] 3. They're targeting [Segment A] Challenge these assumptions with alternative ones and overlooked data points... Beyond ChatGPT, forward-thinking leaders are exploring specialized tools from innovative companies: @Crayon for tracking digital footprints @Perplexity AI for real-time intelligence with citations @Signal AI for monitoring global news and risks @Alphasense for earnings call and SEC filing analysis @Klue for competitive enablement @Consensus for scientific research monitoring The executives seeing the biggest ROI follow this: 1️⃣ Define intelligence objectives (not "monitor competitors" but "identify which features are gaining traction in healthcare verticals") 2️⃣ Establish explicit ethical guidelines collaboratively with legal and security 3️⃣ Create custom prompt libraries like this product gap analysis: Compare our [Product] with [Competitor Product]: - Our feature set: [features] - Our target customer: [ICP details] - Our pricing model: [structure] Looking ahead, the competitive edge will come from multimodal intelligence (analyzing competitor videos and presentations via TwelveLabs), industry-specific AI (@BioSciAI @CognitionIP), and continuous monitoring (Kompyte by Semrush, Contify). The executives who win aren't just using these tools - they're creating systematic approaches to gathering, validating, and applying AI-generated competitive insights within clear ethical boundaries. What's your experience using AI for competitive intelligence? Have you been able to find other practical tools or prompts? Share in the comments! #CompetitiveIntelligence #AIStrategy #Leadership #ChatGPT #BusinessIntelligence #ExecutiveLeadership #FutureOfWork #Innovation #DigitalTransformation #GenAI #LinkedInLearning #CEOlife #BusinessGrowth #DataDriven #StrategicLeadership #TechTrends #MarketIntelligence #DecisionMaking #ArtificialIntelligence #ContentCreator

Top Product Managers don’t guess. They analyze. (These 6 tools show you what competitors are doing.) ___  Building a great product is hard. But it’s even harder when you’re flying blind. You need to know: ➝ Where competitors get their traffic ➝ What ads they’re running ➝ What tech powers their product PMs don’t have time for guesswork. That’s where these tools come in. 1. Similarweb  Let’s start with traffic. Where do your competitors get their users? Is it search or social driving growth? ➜ Breaks down traffic sources ➜ Reveals top referral sites ➜ Finds opportunities they’re missing If their biggest traffic driver is SEO, But they ignore social… That’s your chance to stand out. 2. BuiltWith Now, let’s talk tech. What do they have under the hood? BuiltWith gives you a peek. ➜ CMS, analytics, payment tools   ➜ Find partnership and integration options.  If a certain API or component library is working for them,  Maybe it’s worth considering for your own stack? 3. SpyFu SEO & PPC are a battlefield. This tool tells you who’s winning. ➜ See what keywords they rank for ➜ Find where they spend on ads ➜ Analyze search trends over time  Their ad spend on a specific keyword is up. ↳ It might be driving serious revenue. 4. Facebook Ads Library  Want to see their exact ad creatives? This free Meta tool makes it easy. ➜ View all active ads on Facebook & Instagram ➜ Analyze messaging, visuals & CTAs ➜ Spot what's trending and working They’re running the same ad for months. ↳ It’s probably converting. 5. Google Ads Library  Facebook isn't the only battleground. Google Ads Library shows you live search & display ads.  ➜ Find keyword trends   ➜ See how they write search ads   ➜ Understand their targeting approach A keyword's getting serious attention? ↳ Again, it's likely linked to conversions. 6. LinkedIn Ads Library  LinkedIn's the place to be for B2B. Now you'll now how they target decision-makers. ➜ What industries they focus on ➜ The offers they push ➜ Tactics on B2B positioning As with Facebook: If an add keeps running = conversion. The smart play though? Use them all together. SimilarWeb + Facebook Ads Library ↳ See traffic sources and how they advertise.    SpyFu + Google Ads Library ↳ Find SEO gaps and paid search strategies.  A few minutes of research = Months of guessing saved. So stop wondering.   Start getting the data.  PS. What’s your # 1 tool for competitor research?